(Democrats) distaste for his (Cruz) antics and his radical ideology is undoubtedly genuine. But Democrats are also thrilled that someone … as emerged after the rout in 2012 as a Republican powerbroker in his own right, in a party whose leadership is too weak and timid to control him. And, the greater his stature in the party, the more harm they believe he’ll do to the GOP nationwide, whether or not he runs for president in 2016.

“˜I think the buzz around Sen. Cruz, both on the Senate floor and over the airwaves, represents a sincere effort on the part of Democrats to highlight the true, new face of the GOP ““ or at least its conservative wing (which is pretty much the whole bird these days),’ Democratic strategist Paul Begala told TPM by email.

From Slater, at the Dallas Morning News:

Texas might seem an odd place for Obama to talk jobs and the economy, given Gov. Rick Perry’s habit of claiming that he and Republicans are responsible for the state’s economic success.
But as I wrote today, Perry is less a target than an afterthought. And the GOP prescription for boosting the economy “” low taxes, less regulation, getting government out of the way ““ isn’t what the president is coming to talk about. The real target is a Republican Congress that has opposed Obama on everything from background checks and immigration to taxes, education, spending and the budget. Nobody’s a more visible face of the opposition than Sen. Ted Cruz, tea party star and potential presidential candidate.

By coming to Texas, the president wants to frame the two poles of our broken policy debate this way: Obama’s White House (compromise) vs. Cruz-type Republicans (obstruction).

Of course, Cruz and company will put a very different spin on this.
Mostly, it looks like 2014 is just around the corner, and 2016 is screaming for, and getting, attention.

I just don’t get the self-destructive penchant of Republicans and the right’s obsession with hating Chris Christie.

I know they hate Obama, but they can’t hate winning that much, too. Can they?

Ga6thDem
May 9, 2013 at 7:20 pm

I can tell you why they hate Chris Christie just going on what I hear from conservative friends. He praised Obama. And with the GOP being such a small homogeneous slice of the population, that’s all it takes.

The truth of the matter is they are so out of the mainstream that they thing someone like Ted Cruz can win an election. I don’t know how many people told me that Sarah Palin could run against Obama and win. They are all stuck in the echo chamber and rarely venture out of it.

fairmindedindependent
May 9, 2013 at 8:28 pm

Harry Reid called Ted Cruz a bully, but the sad part is, Ted Cruz gets all the attention in the Senate because he is a bully. Harry Reid and others are scared of him and let him do what he wants. Mitch McConnell is scared of him because Ted Cruz has the base with him. Its sad, I think he is a Harvard grad and the first Hispanic senator elected to the Senate from Texas if I am not mistaken.He could have been a superstar that both sides liked but you can’t win in the Republican party if your views are not the base of the party. Crazy does not discriminate. It does not matter what race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, crazy just doesn’t discriminate, and there’s proof.

Thank you. I wouldn’t vote for Ted Cruz if you held a gun to my head, but calling someone “crazy” because his political views differ from yours is not especially productive, intelligent or tolerant. Yet it’s become depressingly common.

I blame Obama and Bush for this new “everyone is qualified to be President” phenomenon, btw. A few decades ago, the idea of a guy just elected to the Senate jumping into the Presidential sweepstakes would have been seen as the ultimate in audacity. But if the clueless, zero-accomplishment Governor of Texas and a Freshman Senator known essentially for one speech and his skin color can be taken seriously as contenders, well, why not? Rubio suddenly looks like a veteran and yesterday’s news to boot.